Exclusion of Kaposi Sarcoma From Analysis of Cancer Burden

To the Editor We would like to comment on the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Cancer Collaboration's decision to attribute deaths due to Kaposi sarcoma (KS) to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS, and to exclude KS from its analysis of cancer burden. Although the rationale for this approach to estimating total disability-adjusted life years is understandable, applying the same approach when assessing the GBD due to cancer (and, separately, the GBD due to HIV) neglects the pathobiologic characteristics of KS and obscures the impact of the co-occurrence of cancer and HIV in the same individuals. This may lead to a skewed assessment of the causes of and appropriate prevention and treatment strategies for cancer in the highest-burden settings.

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